After more than fifteen minutes, I arrived at a shop with a red electronic sign that said Dragon Ramen and there was already a queue in front of it, so I went straight to the back door, opened the dark green iron door, I was greeted by a busy kitchen, entering the kitchen coincidentally the manager was passing by and saw me.

"Ren! You've finally arrived! Come on! quickly change your clothes and serve at the front!" yelled at me, the manager's bald head shining under the lights and his stomach swaying with every step he took.

"yeah~yeah, I know" Walking casually inside the restaurant I went straight to the staff-only room.

poked my head in, the room was empty, the manager must have chased everyone out like a sheep herder, took my uniform from inside my locker, I changed into a bright red uniform and put on my hat, practicing my smile in the mirror, I now ready to work.

"Ren? Aren't you off today?" Turning my head toward the voice, there was a woman standing with long black hair tied behind her back, with sharp, slightly narrow eyes, she was watching me from the door with her usual expressionless face.

"This is my day off, but I am the reinforcement for today"

"I see" Sayaka answered short, hm... what is this? does she want to collect the money I borrowed last month? but I don't have any money right now, I need to get away from her! smiling at Sayaka, I tried to calmly walk out of the room before she stopped me with her hand "Ren, your cheeks are a little red, someone hit you?"

"Hah?" touched my cheek, it did hurt a little but it shouldn't be obvious, looking at Sayaka's face, she was still looking at me without expression "Did you get bullied Ren?" Sayaka asked.

Yeah... but my cheek hurts from being slapped by a goblin last night, luckily it wasn't hard, looking for an excuse in my mind, I muttered "No, my... girlfriend slapped me"

"nonsense, I know you didn't have any" Sayaka answered flatly.

wait, how is she so sure?

"Ren! Where are you! Don't try to play with me!" The manager's hoarse voice echoed in the air, seeing an opportunity, I immediately made an excuse "I'm sorry Sayaka, but the manager's high blood pressure will relapse again if I don't go, see you!"

Walking away from Sayaka, I left before she asked any more questions.

"Don't worry Ren! If someone hits you I will hit them!" hearing Sayaka's voice behind me, I walked faster, Sayaka is an acquaintance from the village and I've known her since elementary school, so she's like an older sister to me and most importantly is she always worries about me, I don't know what she would say if she knew I'm become an adventurer, well, that might be not long until Lisa let it slip.

"REN!"

"Yes! I'm coming!" serving customers at the front table in a noodle restaurant that makes my stomach rumble while wearing my business smile, today too my daily life has not changed.

(Happy holiday Aragis!) the writing was emblazoned on the body of the bus in front of me, walking across the road while pushing my bicycle, before I realized it was already 7 pm, even though it was already night, the city actually became more alive, is this the holiday spirit?

Pushing my tired body, in the end the manager gave me 400 credits and two free bowls of lunch, he was sure pretty kind today, and Sayaka invited me to go home together but I refused because our places were not in the same direction.

walking past a series of shops and street vendors, I stopped in front of an intersection, there were many people waiting to cross the road, but there was something strange, I saw the pedestrian lights had turned green but no one was moving, looking around, it turned out people were staring at the giant screen on the building across the street.

the screen showing of several adventurers standing in a large room with stone walls, at the end of the room, a giant dragon with golden scales woke up from its sleep.

The dragon raised its head making the incredibly large room look a little cramped, and even the camera trembled a little in front of the golden dragon raising the sound of gasps from the surrounding crowd, but the 7 adventurers standing in the front were not budge at all and readied their weapons.

Even at one glance, I could tell that these 7 adventurers were very high-rank adventurers, the pride of Aragis city, the 7 Strongest Stars, and that wasn't a nickname but really the name of their group.

a very arrogant name, but not many can argue with Orichalcum rank adventurers, Wood, Copper, Iron, Silver, Gold, Orichalcum and adamantite, these are the 7 levels of adventurers in this world with adamantite as humanity's strongest.

even though the adventurers looked like ants in front of the dragon, with one slash of the sword a red-haired adventurer spilled the dragon's blood onto the ground, with one stroke of magic the dragon's breath could be completely blocked, the fight continued, blows of shields and battle axes, a barrage of magic and sword slashes non-stop hit the golden dragon where ever it goes, dozens of skills and magic that I had never seen before were easily cast by the adventurers, in the end the golden dragon that looked majestic lost its luster and almost reached its limit.

"finish it!"

"cut its neck!"

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"This is a great victory!"

Cheers and screams from the pedestrians filled the surroundings, but I couldn't take my eyes off the final moment of this fight. Advancing forward, a red-haired female adventurer wearing red armor stepped in front of the helpless dragon and activated her skill.

"ULTIMATE SLASH!"

With this word, the giant dragon's neck separated from its body and huge cheers accompanied by thunderous applause resounded through the air. I looked around me and there were lots more people gathered than before.

"It's the 7 strongest stars!"

"Orichalcum rank is no joke!"

"Aren't they the strongest in this generation?!"

"It's only a matter of time until they reach Adamantite rank"

endless praise and admiration flew from the crowd, but I could only smile bitterly, Orichalcum rank huh, looking at the screen once again there displayed the profiles of 7 party members, each with their own unique appearance and information, finally arrived at the last one, a red-haired female adventurer with a brave expression on her face, below the photo says Aoi Asano, Rank: Orichalcum, Position: Leader, Level: 134, my eyes widen at the levels before the writing changed to congratulations on defeating the boss from the 70th floor of the Dragon King Dungeon (Frontier)

Frontier is the name for the unexplored floors of a dungeon, adventurers who explore the frontier can attract a lot of attention and become famous, this alone is amazing, but to explore the 70th floor of one of the ancient dungeons is an achievement that I can't imagine in my life.

looking at my smartphone screen, it shows 7:50 pm, I've been standing here for 30 minutes?! Surprised by the fast passing of time, people started moving across the street while happily chatting about what they just saw, this news must be plastered all over the internet and televisions tomorrow.

Walking home under the bright city lights I turned into a small alley beside the road. To the right, there is an old two-story building with an open hallway and lots of doors, Parking my bicycle on the empty ground at the edge of the building, I was about to go up to the second floor before someone called me.

"Ren, have you just come home from work?" coming out of one of the doors was an old woman with white hair and a hunchbacked body who smiled kindly at me, she was the landlord of this building, I don't know her real name but everyone calls her Grandma.

"Ah yes, I just came home, aren't you asleep at this time Grandma?" I spoke softly.

"I was asleep earlier, but Juan woke me up to give me this." Grandma showed me a cardboard box in front of her room, Juan is the neighbor whose room is at the end of the hall on the first floor right?

"This box contains noodles, he also gave me some chips as souvenirs from his hometown."

"I understand, and also, before I forget to tell you that I have already paid this month's rent"

"Thank you Ren, I know you're tired, sorry for disturbing you for chatting" the old Grandma apologized.

"ah! it's okay! I'm not bothered at all" I spoke honestly, this old gramma had helped me a lot, smiled to me, grandma opened her mouth "if you don't mind, I want to give these noodles to you"

"Eh? Is that okay?"

"Hohoho, it's okay, I already told Juan that I would give it to someone else, besides my stomach is no longer strong enough to digest this kind of food" Grandma laughed.

"Then I will gladly accept it!"

"Yes, please take it" Grandma turned her back towards the door before remembering something and turned to me "That reminds me, aren't you starting your first year of high school this year?" Grandma asked.

"Yes? That's true" Confused by the sudden question I could only blink my eyes. Seeing my confused face, Grandma explained "I heard from my granddaughter that high school students now dive into dungeons as an exam starting from the first year of high school."

"Yes, that's right, in a month we will go on a study tour into the dungeon" Well, even though I went there almost every day, I didn't tell anyone apart from Lisa that I became an adventurer in my spare time to earn money, because there are only a few highschool adventurers that start at this time and I don't want to attract unnecessary attention.

"Then, please follow me" Grandma walked with her bent back into her room, following Grandma from behind, I didn't know what she wanted

"Please come in"

"Thank you" Entering the room I was greeted by a simple room like the one I had, although there was a lot of antique furniture and items here, different from my room this room was clean and looked comfortable, standing near the entrance, Grandma started to dismantle one of the wooden cupboards in the corner of the room.

"Here it is, it's still here" What Grandma took out was a green box with nice decorations, brushing the dust off the top, Grandma called me with her hand.

"Please sit"

"Yes, thank you" Sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of a small table in the middle of the room, Grandma put the box on the table in front of me, looking at the box in confusion Grandma smiled "please open it"

"Mm" Nodding, I opened the box, inside there was a pair of black leather gloves, a pair of boots, a chest protector, a belt and arm protectors, this was adventurer equipment, all dark colored, looking at Grandma in confusion, I asked "what is this for?"

"This is my husband's adventure equipment, although it is a little worn, it can still be used" Grandma gently took the gloves from the box, rubbed them on her hands, she looked at the gloves with emotion behind her eyes before turning to me "I will give them to you"

"Wait a minute! I can't accept something this valuable!" I refused while waving my hands in panic, seeing my refusal Grandma opened her mouth "It's okay Ren, rather than rotting with age, it's better if this equipment dives into the dungeon once again, I'm sure my husband will be happy"

Grandma looked at one of the photos on the wall. There was Grandma and an old man, so that was her husband, he looked quite strong for his age.

But still.

"I'm sorry, but I don't feel worthy of using this equipment" Even with one look, I can see that this equipment is well made, if I tried to buy it myself it would cost tens of thousands of credits, how many thousands of goblins would I need to kill for this?

"It's okay, this isn't magic equipment so it's not too expensive, besides if you want to be an adventurer you have to have proper equipment" Grandma chuckled.

"H-how did you know I became an adventurer?" I asked curiously even though no one should know about this.

"What kind of job makes you always sneak around day and night and come back battered? In the Dungeon City! Hohoho" Grandma laughed at me because I thought I was stealthy, while I was only able to smile wryly.

"But Ren" Grandma looked into my eyes and smiled.

"I am amazed by your hard work and your will as an adventurer, not many young people are like this nowadays, therefore I am sure you will become a successful adventurer" Listening to her praise, I could only sit in silence, even though my main goal as an adventurer was just to make quick money...

"So Ren, cheer up and take your luck, you're not an adventurer without taking a chance with every step you take."

"B-but... doesn't your granddaughter want this equipment?"

"My granddaughter is still in middle school and she already said she doesn't want to be an adventurer."

"Oh, I see.." Still uncertain, I only answered half-hearted

"I understand" Grandma sighed and lowered her head "maybe you don't want to take this equipment because it's old, but actually this means a lot to me" she said sadly, I felt really bad for refusing such good items, but I also feel bad to accept it, what should I do....

"Even though I take good care of it, it's a shame that no one wants to take it."

Ahh! I don't have a choice!

"Okay! I'll take it! I'm very grateful!"

"hohoho, you welcome"

I finally took it.